Paddy exploits his costume to feel up a little boy's mother.
But by sheer confidence and the perceived urgency of the situation, they manage to pull it off. Their disguises are far from convincing, their acting is terrible, and their "stretcher" is the stolen TV under a blanket.
Ax-Crazy: Billy the Butcher, full stop.Upon being sent to prison for stealing a school bus full of children (see Big Damn Heroes), Max and Paddy face the unpleasant ordeal of a rectal examination to ensure they're not smuggling anything into the prison.But if the Bible, and Talking Heads, is right-if relying on self is a road to nowhere-then acting as a billboard imploring our neighbors to turn around is the most loving thing we can do. Yes, challenging Pride Month and the sacred self may mean we’re misunderstood or demonized. Instead of settling for the city of our mind, God has prepared a city of his own design for those who follow him (Heb. Pride Month summons us to look within Jesus presents a better way. His finished work means we can have our sins forgiven and be placed on the narrow road leading to eternal life. And this life-lived in reference to the ultimate North Star, his heavenly Father-led Jesus to the cross, where he made a way for us out of nowhere and to somewhere: to a holy city, the new Jerusalem. His orientation was outward, fixated on heaven’s will (John 5:19). Jesus Christ entered into the depths of human depravity in order to bring us out of it. He is the ultimate reference, the only reliable guide for living a life of meaning and joy.
He sets us free from slavery to self and sin. Guiding a ship by a reference point on the ship means the ship is adrift, voyaging to nowhere.īut there is hope. We’re trapped because we’ve taken our eyes off God, our Creator, and looked within the “ship” of creation to find our way (Rom. After all, humanity is trapped in a labyrinth of the world, the flesh, and the Devil (Eph.
To get where we’re meant to go, we must have a reference point outside of both ourselves and our world. Guiding a ship by a reference point on the ship means the ship is adrift, voyaging to nowhere. No wonder the ship’s movements don’t make sense. That’s how we’re making our way across the sea.” See the lantern on the ship’s bow? That’s our guiding light. The captain replies, “We do things a little differently here. So the confused sailor asks, “Captain, where are we going?” It’s nighttime, and the ship’s movements don’t square with his training to use the North Star as a fixed reference point. Imagine a sailor, new to the ship and crew, confused as to where the ship is heading. Pride Month, and the ideology undergirding it, is ultimately fruitless. Though we’re told the road to the good life arises from within, we lack the internal resources to navigate our lives. Our desires simply cannot serve as trustworthy guides or bear the weight of our worship. Despite the rousing tune, its reality is stark: the detached, autonomous self is on track to nowhere. The world calls us, with evangelistic gusto, to focus on the unique “cities” tucked deep within each of us. But even Byrne admits it’s a road to nowhere. And it’s all right baby, it’s all right / We’re on a road to nowhere.īyrne invites us deep into his interior life, the “city in his mind,” which is distant yet evolving daily. There’s a city in my mind come along and take that ride / It’s very far away but it’s growing day by day. Put simply, the modern person is an untethered self who looks inward (not outward) for both meaning and direction. Changes regarding human sexuality, Trueman shows, are tied to a deeper transformation of the self-a transformation centuries in the making. Carl Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (and the more condensed Strange New World) is an indispensable guide to the undercurrents driving our cultural moment. Pride Month doesn’t just recognize new ideas concerning sex it is a call for total devotion to self. Don’t believe me? Consider what happens to those who abstain from the celebration. Our culture has moved past a yearly nod to the LGBT+ movement to something more akin to a religious holiday.